I’ve beaten the piss out of a loaner M3 my old boss had, same car as Viper has but stock, and while it wasn’t on a track I can say I was pushing it hard enough that I probably should have been on a track.
After about 10 minutes the novelty wore off and I was wishing for a traditional manual.
I think I say the same thing in all these threads, but for me having a sports car is not about being .3 seconds faster in the 1/4th or a second faster around a track. That’s what being a professional race car driver is about. For me, it’s about the involvement and challenge that comes with driving a powerful car quickly, and turning the shifter into a video game style “click-click” removes much of the involvement.
About the only way I’d consider an SMG is if my daily drive involved a TON of bumper to bumper traffic and my sports car also had to be my DD.
There isn’t a “right” answer to this though. It’s about what you want. Miata’s are a dime a dozen so I’m sure you can manage to get test drives in both a traditional manual, and the auto-tap-paddle contraption. It’s not like you’re looking at F430’s.